FO Friday: Monkeying Around

Well, with 15 minutes until Saturday, I'm squeezing in a FO Friday post.  (It is Friday, right?  My week got shuffled around a bit so I keep getting mixed up.)

Today's featured FO is one that was a stealth project for five months:

It's a monkey!  More specifically, he is a Tooth Fairy Monkey.  My niece (or rather, to be more specific, my oldest niece on my side of the family...) recently lost her first teeth.  I had intended to finish this monkey before she lost her first tooth, but we all know how I do with deadlines.  (Laughter here.)  But anyway, this monkey's purpose is to hold a tooth (instead of putting it under your pillow) for the Tooth Fairy and then hold whatever the Tooth Fairy brings you.  See?  The monkey even holds a bag:

(Again with the late night, bad lighting photo.  Ah, well.)  He didn't make it up to my niece in time for her first or second lost tooth (they came out in quick succession) but he's there for the next ones. (She's got two more loose teeth!)

Extreme Blocking

Oy.  So my beach shawl is finally done and blocking.  It only took forever to get it that way.  See?  Here it is:

(Pardon the crummy photo.  It's dark out and I had to use the flash.  The colours are WAY better in real life.)

As I wrote in my post earlier this month, I started it in June 2010 and finished it in July of that year but I wasn't happy with it because it was too short.  So I frogged it and started again.  And it wasn't as exciting the second time around (the same phenomenon that causes second sock syndrome) so it went into deep hibernation.  When the new year started, I brought it out of the deep recesses of my knitting basket determined to continue with the progress I had made in lowering my number of WIPs.  I made good progress on it until some point last week.  I was almost done.  I had a row and a half to go before the bind off.  But...

The second to last short row section is on the top center of the shawl.  Mine was knit in a section of the yarn that was dyed, for lack of a better term, "funny."  While Mini Mochi proclaims to be a single ply, this looked like a barbershop pole of the peachy colour and the light sea blue colour.  And the section looked awful.  It was muddy.  And it was right there in the top center.

I know what kind of knitter I am.   I am the kind of knitter who will take scissors to a sleeve because of two stitches that were purled where they ought to have been knit.  And I know that I'm the kind of knitter who won't wear something if I don't absolutely love it.  So I couldn't leave that section alone.  I pulled it back, cut out several yards of muddy looking yarn, and began to re-knit again.

And then I caught that blasted noro virus that's been going around.  And then my toddler caught the noro virus.  And so no knitting got done.

But today I finally finished.  And I was faced with a new problem.

How to block it.

Not how as in the steps to blocking, but where the heck I was supposed to put it.  You see, there is no spare floor space in this house.  None.  Zero.  I thought about blocking it at my parent's house, but I was really hoping to block it and have it dry in time for me to wear tomorrow.  So I had to make do.

I put my blocking mats on the floor and stretched out my shawl, hissing at the cat and scolding the dog for trying to walk and lay on it.  Then I cleared off the piano.  And put some file boxes on the key cover.  And stacked some boxes on top of the music next to the piano.  And pulled out the bench and stacked some more file boxes on it.  Then we moved the mats to the top of the piano.  And there it is!

I give you extreme blocking.

FO Friday: Small Accomplishments

Since last Friday's FO post, I have finished two more projects, both on the smallish side of things.

First, a tiny white elephant that I knit to give in a white elephant gift exchange:

He's about an inch and a half tall.

Second, a little monster that I knit as part of a Random Acts of Monsters group that spreads the monster love to people who need cheering up or a little something special.  This little monster will soon be leaving, off to find a new family in South Dakota.

(Little monster in relative monster size, being only about seven inches tall.  Considerably bigger than the elephant, but on the small size as far as monsters are concerned.)

Being small projects, this FO Friday blog post shall follow suit and be short as well.  Happy Friday, y'all.

Read other fiber arts blogs: Fiber Arts Friday, Creative Friday, and FO Friday

WIP Wednesday: Oldest WIP

Today's WIP (Work In Progress) Wednesday report features my longest standing WIP, my Beach Shawl.  Here's what it looks like today:

Huh... some of you might say.  This looks kind of familiar.

Yeah.  About that...

I originally started this shawl in June of 2010.  And then I finished it less than a month later.  But I wasn't happy with it.  It was too short:

And I had no clue what I was doing when it came to blocking:

So sad.

So I frogged it completely and started over on a larger needle.  And that's where it's been ever since.  I revived it after the new year started and am making good progress again.  I'm hoping to finish it soon, but the rows keep getting longer and longer (the curse of the bottom-up shawl).  Plus the yarn is really not toddler friendly, especially toddler-who-eats-yarn friendly.  (It's Mini Mochi, which is technically machine washable, but it's single ply and still feltable.)

My Beach Shawl is one of five WIPs OTN (On The Needles) presently, but is the only one from 2010.  The next oldest is from 2011, and then three from 2012.  I've promised myself new yarn for Jo's next sweater when I finish a UFO (UnFinished Object).

WIP Wednesdays with Tami's Amis

FO Friday, Post Holiday Edition

Well, another winter gifting season has come and gone, which means I have hand-knits to show you.  I'm trying something new this year with the blog, as I was such a terrible blogger last year, only typing up four very photo-full entries.  I'm going to aim to (maybe... we'll see how far I actually get) post at least twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays for WIP (Work in Progress) Wednesdays and FO (Finished Object) Fridays.

Today, though, lots of photos again because of all the stealth projects I gifted.

First, a pair of gifts for Redhead Sister's baby, due sometime this month, Team Yellow (they decided not to find out whether the baby is a boy or a girl):

Pompom Hat: (I love how these look on itsy bitsy people) Knit in a soft green colour (actually in the green left over from the frog hat I knit for Elder Sister's son).

Little Red Sweater: This one actually shares yarn with Jo's Little Red Riding Hood cape

I also knit another GAP-tastic Cowl for one of my sisters-in-law.  The picture absolutely does not do justice to the colour, which is a lovely, rich wine.

She has expressed that she loves it because she no longer has to tuck ends into her coat or worry about fringe getting caught in the zipper.  The colour looks wonderful on her.

And, the knit object that I am most proud of on this post:

An owl pillow that I designed and knit for Elder Sister's daughter who received a quilt from my mother made from this fabric:

I am so pleased with how it turned out since I designed it (all by myself! from scratch!)

I did finish a couple of other things since my last post, but I think this is more than enough for this post.  I may show them at a later date.

How Long?!

No, this post isn't about how long it's been since I last blogged (which actually wasn't that long ago...)  It's about how long a couple of my projects have been on the needles...  Since 2010, that's how long.  And when you consider that I only took up knitting in September of 2009, that's a long time!  Well, I finally finished two of those long standing UFOs (UnFinished Objects) this month!

Confession: I started both of these projects with the intent of making them for my niece back when she was a toddler.  Uh huh... that was four years ago... I didn't finish them as quickly as I wanted to, and then she got too big for them, and then I had no one else to give them to.  Then I had a little girl of my own and finally got them finished!

Project 1: Little Red Riding Hood Cape

I started this in May of 2010.  I started the two-year-old size, because I was knitting it for my toddler niece.  Then I put it into hibernation mode because I heard of a crazy thing called NaKniSweMo (which I totally bombed... somebody remind me NOT to attempt ANY November Month Challenges EVER, okay?) and so it didn't get finished for Christmas and didn't make it back into the active project pile.  And Niecelette grew.  (Geez.  So inconvenient.)  In May of 2011 I pulled it back out, frogged what I had done, and restarted the four-year-old size, hoping to finish it by her birthday.  Well, I didn't.  And she grew some more.  She grew until it no longer made sense to knit a cape for a four-year-old because she wouldn't be able to fit into it for very long.  So I didn't see a point in knitting it anymore and stuck it in very deep hibernation.

It has finally emerged!  And finished!  It is, of course, four-year-old size and therefore way too big for Jo just yet (especially since she is not quite yet walking... capes are kind of a walking thing), but she modeled for me (and didn't fight me about the hood being on.  That's big.)

Project 2: Maggie Doll

This was started in September of 2010 intended for Niecelette's Christmas.  But, as I said above, NaKniSweMo came along and kicked several projects into the hibernation basket.  But she grew.  And she had "Baby Hat" of whom she was very fond and so I no longer felt a need to knit a doll for her.  In October of 2011, once I knew I was pregnant with a little girl of my own, I pulled this one out of hibernation and worked on it again.  A couple of rows, anyway...  I finally pulled it out for real this month and FINISHED.  She will be given to Jo on her first birthday this December.

I still have one project from 2010 still in my basket, but it's one of only SIX projects currently in progress.  That one got stuck because I knit it and then decided I didn't like the size and so I frogged it and started again.  I also have one project from 2011.  That one hibernated when I got pregnant and motion sick from everything.   I pulled it out a while ago and realized that I had knit two different size fronts and got mad at it and stuck it back in hibernation.  In a while I'll forgive it enough to pull it back out and fix it.  And then four projects started this year.  I have set deadlines for two of them to be finished before the year ends.  (We'll see how that goes.  Don't hold your breath.  I don't have a good track record.)

Hand-knits for Everyone!

Well, maybe not for everyone, but I have been spreading the hand-knit love... and now that all those stealth projects have been gifted, I can share them.

Last blog post (four and a half months ago!), I complained that I had too many WIPs (14) and vowed to finish a whole bunch of them before starting another, aiming to have no more than six WIPs at a time.  Let's see how that went, shall we?

Mid-May, I had two pair of socks on the needles.  I finished one pair:

and then cast on for another.  Having a pair of "vanilla" socks in progress at all times is a must... they are the best "on-the-go" knitting.  I may not have as much time with my hands free while I'm waiting around that I used to before I had a baby, but I still need my plain socks.  Since I did not finish the other pair of socks, I still have two pair in progress.

I also had two pair of mitts in progress.  I finished these:

but did not finish the other pair.  They are made from unspun mawata and are going to be in hibernation for a while as my child likes to eat yarn and I don't need "help" drafting the silk!

I was also working on two pair of baby booties, both of which I finished and gifted:
These went to Aurora.  Her daddy plays hockey, so she needed ice skate baby booties!

These went to Mia.

I also started and finished two more pair, both for the newest niece on my husband's side of the family, just born two days ago:

I currently have no baby booties in progress!

I also had a baby sweater in the works.  This went to another niece on my husband's side, Julie:

And I knit another baby sweater in 12-18 month size for Jo.

And I knit her a dress for the Ravellenic Games:

I also knit two "Monster Chunks" as gifts:

I am still working on the sweater, vest, shawl, doll, and little red riding hood cape.  I frogged the cowl and the baby blanket.  I started two more stealth projects.

Of the 14 I had in progress, I finished five and frogged two, leaving seven still in progress.  Seven is almost six!  But then I started nine more and finished only six of them.  I currently have ten projects on the needles.  So much for not starting anything else until I finished ten of the projects that were then in progress!  Oh, well...